I try to keep my feet on the ground. Even though I appreciate the fame and adoration, I remember once I used to pick cotton, and I felt like even then I was somebody. I have the same feet, hands and heart like everyone else. I'm just also blessed with a good voice.

In 20 years I had sold more records for RCA than any artist except Elvis Presley.

A woman went so far as to hire private detectives to contact me to help bring her out of what she called a hypnotic trance.

I grew up not liking my father very much. I never saw him cry. But he must have. Everybody cries.

I was sometimes jeered by black soldiers who wanted me to sing something besides country music.

Until MTV, television had not been a huge influence on music. To compete with MTV, the country music moguls felt they had to appeal to the same young audience and do it the way MTV did.

A fan will grab you and hug you and will not let go. When that happens, you wish it could be that way all over the world.